Photography by Gary Ricketts—Capturing History Through Photography
Everyday People
We are all alike; we are all different—Everyday People explores that concept.
59th Street Bridge
New York City has the largest homeless population of any other American city. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly 30 percent of the country’s homeless with children live in New York City. In September of 2018, 63,025 homeless people, which included 15,421 families with 22,907 homeless children slept each night in the New York City Municipal Shelter System. During the 2017 fiscal year, 129,803 different individuals slept in the city’s shelter system.
An estimated additional 13,000 to 15,000 homeless individuals sleep on the streets or other public places.
Public housing is available through the New York City Housing Authority, but the odds of getting an apartment are not good. There is a waiting list of 260,000 families, and those with higher needs priorities are placed at the top of the list—victims of domestic assault for example.
Astral Weeks
Ballet first appeared in the Italian Renaissance courts during the 13th century as entertainment for nobles. Ballet began without tutus or pointe shoes. The dancers wore the fashionable clothing of the time and even encouraged audience members to join in toward the end.
When Catherine de Medici married King Henry II of France, she arranged for ballet to be performed at the French court. She held festivals, ballet de cour, which became popular. The French influence continued with King Louis XIV, who having grown up seeing ballet, popularized and standardized ballet. A technique and syllabus was created and ballet became an art form requiring disciplined training by professionals.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that the tutu and pointe shoes were introduced to ballet. In 1832, the ballet “La Sylphide” was created to showcase Marie Taglioni’s en pointe dancing. Until then, pointe shoes were considered an ungraceful stunt. The tutu premiered in Paris, France in 1842 to highlight and bring greater appreciation to a ballerina’s difficult leg and foot work.
Crew Chief
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, know as the Huey, became a symbol of combat forces in Vietnam. The Crew Chief was personally responsible for maintaining the helicopter and flew every mission on “his” Huey.
Combat assault deep into enemy territory was the primary mission assignment with each Huey carrying six to eight combat ready Marines. Additional Hueys, outfitted as gunships, provided escort to the LZ (landing zone) and then protected Marines as they exited onto the field of battle.
Other mission assignments included delivering unit replacements, food, water, ammunition and other necessities to infantry units in the field or at forward base locations. The versatile Huey also served as a medevac helicopter, quickly transporting wounded to waiting medical treatment.
Vietnam was the helicopter war, and each had its own sound, but that whup-whup-whup was Huey’s unmistakable signature.
Double Jointed?
In 1980, Minnesota brothers Scott and Brennan Olsen found a pair of old in-line skates at a sporting goods store and thought they would be perfect for off-season hockey training. The brothers set to work on improving the design and soon manufactured the first Rollerblade in-line skates in their parents’ basement.
In 1983 when Scott Olson founded Rollerblade, Inc., the company expanded its target demographic to include women and children and suddenly “Rollerblading” was everywhere. As many as 4,000 Rollerbladers showed up on weekends to skate around Central Park while many others gathered at the Central Park mall to show off in-line skating skills. Rollerblading became so popular, the company stopped taking orders in the early 1990s because demand exceeded production capabilities.
However, the popularity of in-line skating faded as the new millennium approached. The final blow came in 2005 when the X Games removed in-line skating from its roster of events. For many people in-line skating is as outdated as beepers and fax machines.
Eye to Eye
Softball is played with a larger ball than baseball and on a smaller field. Softball was invented as an indoor game in 1887, Chicago, Illinois. Because originally the larger ball used in the game was soft, the name softball was officially attached to game in 1926.
The first official women’s softball team was formed in 1895 at Chicago’s West Division High School. However, the team played without a coach until 1899, and there was still little spectator interest in the women’s game of softball. The attitude quickly changed in 1904 when Spalding’s Indoor Baseball Guide had an entire magazine section featuring women’s softball.
In the early days of women’s softball, a slow looping pitch was used because the general attitude about a woman’s fragility caused many to believe a fast pitch could break a woman’s bones. Of course, society’s attitude matured and now women softball pitchers throw a fast pitch underhanded with amazing speed and accuracy.
The first world championship of woman’s softball was held in 1965 with five competing teams in Australia. In 1996, woman’s fast-pitch softball became a medal sport at the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fishing
Surfcasting is a form of fishing where the angler stands on the shoreline using a surf rod between nine and fourteen feet long. The rod length is one of the most important elements in surfcasting because the lure must land beyond the breaking ocean waves. Veteran surfcasters use the pendulum cast technique to achieve extra distance. The world record for the longest cast is held by Danny Moeskops—313.6 yards.
The pendulum cast lets the lure, or the casting weight, hang down six or more feet below the rod tip. The rod is moved in a swinging motion to create a wide arc with the lure behind the caster. The lure moves through a 350 degree arc as it hurled high toward the ocean.
Just as there are bass fishing competitions on America’s lakes, numerous surfcasting tournaments are held at America’s coastlines. Generally the surfcasting tournaments offer small prizes, usually less than $100, unlike the offshore fishing boat tournaments. In 2016, a man won $2.8 million dollars in the billfish tournament in Ocean City, Maryland. However, when he failed a polygraph test, the U. S. Court of Special Appeals upheld a lower court ruling he cheated and was not entitled his winnings.
No Coin Required
Every April through October the Manhattan Street fair scene is alive with one or more streets closed to vehicular traffic. Millions roam past stalls with games of chance, crepes, and all manner of merchandise for sale. Restaurants along the route expand out into the street with curbside dining.
With over 300 street fairs each year, there is a sameness about them. That’s why the street fairs with a cultural flavor are special — such as Japan Block Fair, Bastille Day Festival, and the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy—New York City’s oldest.
The Feast of San Gennaro was first held in September 1926 when immigrants from Naples gathered to celebrate Saint Januarius, Naples Patron Saint. Originally began as a one-day religious commemoration it is now an eleven day street fair held each September on Mulberry Street with annual attendance in excess of one million. Cannoli Eating and Meatball Eating contests are open to the public—should you feel up to it. The Grand Procession occurs at 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of the festival followed by Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood.
Rush Hour
On May 31, 1868, the first recorded bicycle race was held in Paris, France at Parc de Saint-Cloud. An Englishman named James Moore won the 1.2 km (.7 miles) riding a wooden bicycle with iron tires. Bicycle racing in the early days was a dangerous undertaking. The phrase “breakneck speed” comes from that era because if a rider crashed he would fly over the handlebars resulting in serious injury. In spite of the potential danger(or perhaps because of it) bicycle racing became popular around the world.
As of 2017, the highest paid professional bicycle road racer is Chris Froome who reportedly earned £4 million ($5,132,712.00) per year. This is money paid to an individual who competes in an inaccessible spectator sport where races can be 40 miles or 100 miles. Indoor bicycle track racing, on the other hand, is made for spectators and promoters alike.
Early indoor track races, with paying spectators, attracted up to 2,000 people for each event. At the peak of popularity in the 1930s, six-day races were held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Yes, the race lasted non-stop for six consecutive days. It was the era of “testing human endurance”. The term “Madison” is still used to describe six-day racing, which now consist of teams or rest periods if individuals race.
Two Ladies
Today’s Lifespan is significantly longer than that of the 17th century: 35 years of age. In 2014, a one million dollar prize was offered to scientists who “hack the code of life” and push the apparent maximum human lifespan past 120 years.
The longest known and confirmed lifespan is 122 years. Jeanne Louise Calment met Vincent Van Gogh when she was thirteen. Born February 21, 1875 in Arles, France and died August 4, 1997, she lived her entire life in Arles. On April 8, 1898, Jeanne married her second cousin Fernand Nicolas Calment and moved into the apartment above his shop where she lived until she was 110 years old.
In 1965 at age 90, having outlived husband, daughter and grandson, Jeanne entered into a reverse mortgage contract to sell the apartment to lawyer André-François Raffray. He agreed to pay her 2,500 francs (€381.12) monthly until she died. Raffray ended up paying Jeanne more than €140,000, which was more than double the apartment’s value. Raffray died before she did prompting Jeanne Calment to comment, “In life, one sometimes makes bad deals”.
Water Bubble
David Blaine, magician, illusionist, and endurance artist, made his television debut on ABC May 16, 1997, with “David Blaine: Street Magic”. In addition to magic performances, Blaine is also known for various endurance attempts. For example: entombed for 7 days without food or water in an underground plastic box, incased in a block of ice for more than 63 hours, standing atop a 100 foot pillar on a 22 inch platform for 35 hours, suspended in a sealed transparent box without food or water over the River Thames for 44 days.
The stunt that went wrong was titled “Drowned Alive”. May 1, 2006, Blaine submerged himself inside an 8 foot diameter, water-filled sphere on the mall at Lincoln Center in New York City to set a new record for underwater endurance. At the end of the week-long event, he planned to break the record for holding one’s breath underwater. Two days before the attempt, producers of the live televised special insisted he also escape from handcuffs while holding his breath— to make it more interesting for viewers.
Blaine failed to break the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds (by just under 2 minutes) when he blacked out and was rescued from the tank. Two years later Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds while underwater on the Oprah Winfrey show.
